Synopsis: The Tenth Doctor and Martha Jones set off on an
adventure through space to find the datachips to unlock The Infinite, a
huge spaceship that can grant people their heart's desire. However, the
evil Baltazar is also searching for the ship.

I know, I know. I'm supposed to hate it. And most of me does. The
science is, well, awful. A bird that eats gold flies the Doctor to
another galaxy? There's atmosphere on the Infinite, despite being
millennia old and with the HUGE GASH on its port side? The sonic
screwdriver causes a starship to blow up? (Is there anything at all this
thing can't do?)

And there's more headscratchers. The plot is rice-paper thin. An
interstellar black box, in four pieces, yet all ended up in the hands of
people know to each other? Unlikely. The Doctor gets himself into, and
out of, trouble at a mile a minute.

The characters are all cardboard-cutouts. I can forgive Martha,
because she was truly an unknown when this started being aired. The first
part was aired two days after Smith and Jones,
so nobody, including the folks writing this, knew too much about Martha's
character when it started. But even the Doctor seems... off. The Doctor
starts it off by walking right into a trap. Wouldn't have it made more
sense to just destroy the second piece as soon as you found it? And,
while the idea of Martha wearing the tracking device is fine, does anyone
buy that bird is as fast as the TARDIS? No? Didn't think so.

So why can't I totally hate this? The same thing that carries most of
series 29. Freema Agyeman. Tennant's performance here is, to be
generous, lackluster. Agyeman carries this childish plot to its
conclusion, even despite the bad writing, and is this thing's only saving
grace.

Ultimately, not enough. Agyeman and this not being an episode proper,
but an extra story, save this from the failing grade it so very much tried
to earn.

The Infinite Quest is something of an oddity, isn't it?
Originally produced as a series of three and a half minute episodes for
the now defunct Totally Doctor Who series, it was to be one of two
animated stories produced during the David Tennant era and boasts not just
the then current Doctor and companion in its cast but also Anthony Stewart
Head as well. So what are we to make of The Infinite Quest?

Well for one thing, it certainly isn't "infinite"; quite the opposite,
in fact. Perhaps it's important to remember format it was done in
(thirteen three and a half minute episodes) because that isn't how it is
on the DVD. The DVD version is instead an omnibus edition that takes the
separate episodes and puts them together into a single forty-five minute
story. Why is that a problem?

The problem is that it feels incredibly rushed throughout. It simply
never stays in place long enough to flesh anything out, be it the
characters or the actual locations themselves. Take the planet with the
oil pirates for example. It's a fascinating idea that, given the world in
which we live in, is a seemingly perfect idea for a Doctor Who
story. We're rushed through it though in such a hurry that we barely
register it or the characters that inhabit it for that matter. There's no
tension, just a fast pace that leaves you wondering if you've missed
something somewhere.

Somehow it seems disappointing that the man who wrote the eighth
Doctor's first Big Finish adventure Storm Warning
(amongst many other Doctor Who stories) is the same writer who
wrote this. Whether the lack of story development is his fault as a writer
or to the constraints he was forced to work with, I don't know.

What this honestly feels like is what would if say The
Keys Of Marinus or the Key To Time season (both
from the old series) were crammed into a single 45 minute episode of the
New Series. In fact, that analogy can be taken further. Like The Keys Of Marinus, the story is changing locations
what seems to be every new episode. Plus, like the Key To
Time season, we see the Doctor and Martha on a quest throughout time
and space featuring a new villain(s) while also trying to stay ahead of a
bigger foe. It's an old series quest story as if remade for someone with a
short attention span and it's a mess.

What does this have going for it? Well the animation is good though
given its only competition in the Doctor Who world is the various
webcasts that were limited by early 2000s internet connections and the
other animated tenth Doctor story Dreamland, that perhaps isn't
saying very much. The voice work is good as well with Tennant giving what
was pretty much his standard performance as the Doctor while Freema
Agyeman's line readings give the impression she was simply reading off
pages of a script out loud. Much more memorable are Anthony Stewart Head
as the villain and one time Big Finish stalwart Toby Longworth as a couple
of "robot parrots". None of that though can really salvage it from its
biggest faults though.

How are we to judge The Infinite Quest then? The actual story
itself is weak, the animation is good and the performances vary. Maybe it
worked better as separate episodes but, as it stands, it feels like a
rushed mess.